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He says the costumes were inspired by a scene in the movie Blazing Saddles and have no connection to him and the organization identified as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

With Mr Garrison's coming election next month, his opponent, David Waters, says he knew about the photos and was in fact shown them about a year ago, but he wasn't the one who presented them this week.

No relation: Seen today, Mr Garrison admits his costume choice as having been a foolish one but affirms having never had actual ties or agreement with the group

Re-election: Seen in his office, Mr Garrison is up for re-election next month against an opponent who says he knew about the photos a year ago but wanted no relation to them

That's a claim WSB-TV confirms.

'It is a bad judgement call,' Mr Waters told the station, 'and [that] type of clothing represents hate. And I certainly don't want any part of that,' he said, saying he'd prefer to focus on his own campaign.